Early Spitfire Sutton Harness colour?

Thanks once again Stan!

I’ll test a small underside portion.

The darker shades in some pictures definitely could be “army” khaki rather than RAF Blue. That would explain the photos.
That just leaves the Patrick Stephens book and therefore , allegedly, the IWM Spitfire as having “RAF Blue” as the colour.
I’ll go with khaki I think!

regards

Darryl

When comparing “coffee stain” to origional Tiger and Mosquito harness, it is a pretty fair representation. I have noted a considerable variation in khaki tints over the years but the standard Army khaki is darker than the normal Sutton harness colours.

Cheers Stan.

Mine is already Khaki coloured, the same colour as P9374’s (for reference). Are you saying they should be a darker shade? “Buff” was Edgar’s description of what they should be but that, in British military terms, definitely IS too light for what the
real thing was.

But if coffee will stain the pebble weave then I think I should be able to dye it RAF blue if I can find more solid references to that colour being used early on.

best regards and thansk

Darryl

If your webbing is the correct “pebble weave” 2 inch cotton , you will find that strong black coffee solution will give a very good kahki effect . Nobody has questioned mine yet

Thanks Mate,

Yes, I’ve seen that. Edgar is a great loss, that is for sure. I have a very large archive of clippings from his posts.

The “buff” is, I am confident, his interpretation of “my” Kharki Yellow. “Buff” in British Army parlance is a little lighter but still….

It is a great shame that the thread got derailed on the “back of the seat” argument and never really answered the original question. (But WE don’t have to worry about the back seat hole arguments, do we 🙂 🙂 🙂 )
There IS a small clue in that Edgar mentions the Airfix book and the position of the belts being confirmed on the IWM aircraft when taken down for cleaning. That book
lists the belts as RAF Blue and it is therefore highly probable that the “blue” reference comes from the same aircraft and time.

Last night I found a refueling picture where the belt is hanging out of the cockpit and the yellow outer ring is on the roundel. It is definitely not orthochromatic as the ring is light but the harness is definitely
very dark, at least as dark as the cam green. While that is no guarantee that the belt is blue it does sweeten the pot a little. As K9817 was only the 31st production aircraft, it is very likely that
any and all “early” quirks (with the exception of the original, unguarded starter switch) were present.

Quite another matter is whether my Sutton would take a dye in any case. My original parachute pack and harness (a 1960’s US one) certainly would not. Fortunately I was able
to source an RAF parachute from the 60’s which is of the original pattern but has brown straps and black fittings.

I still owe you some photos of the “mystery fitting” now it think of it!

Edgar (rest his soul and sorely missed) has it as Buff.
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/7979-sutton-harness-does-anyone-know/
The darker colour or blue have a recollection as naval aircraft maybe,perhaps,queried,imaginary,bad memory?